Hawks vow to be ready for Sharks

Western Conference finals pits top seeds against each other

From the early stages of the season, the Blackhawks and Sharks seemed almost destined to meet for the right to play for hockey's ultimate prize.

Now destiny has become reality as they wait for the league to announce the date of Game 1 of the Western Conference finals at HP Pavilion.

The Hawks and Sharks were the elite teams of the West, engaged in a dogfight to see who would finish on top of the standings once the dust settled on the regular season. During the first two rounds of the postseason they methodically went about their respective business and now are set for a showdown.

The Sharks dispatched the Avalanche and Red Wings in the first two rounds and have been waiting for the Hawks, who after eliminating the Predators in Round 1 advanced with a hard-fought series victory over the Canucks, capped by a 5-1 victory Tuesday night in Game 6 in Vancouver.

The sweat from their previous effort still was dripping from their playoff beards when the Hawks began focusing on their next task.

"It's a huge goal of yours ever since you're a little kid to try to win the Stanley Cup and this puts us one step closer," winger Patrick Kane said.

That step will be a formidable one as the Sharks held off the Hawks by one point to claim the top seed and home-ice advantage.

The Sharks boast a top line of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley and have the depth to back it up with a group of talented forwards, strong defensemen and a top goaltender in Evgeni Nabokov.

"They have probably the top two lines in the league," Kane said "If you look at our team we have a lot of depth, but their two lines up there are pretty special and (Joe) Pavelski's on fire too."

The Hawks came together to win three consecutive games in hostile Vancouver, helping bolster their already soaring confidence.

"It's very high, but we're maintaining a great balance of confidence and being realistic with ourselves," captain Jonathan Toews said. "We know we can't do whatever we want, expect to score easy goals and win games. We really have to keep ourselves grounded and work hard for that success."

Starting on the road for Games 1 and 2 doesn't figure to bother them too much as they have been just a pedestrian 3-3 at the United Center in the playoffs.

"We prepare the same way for every game," veteran center John Madden said. "A lot of people make a huge deal out of not winning at home regularly in the playoffs, and we're a little perplexed about that as well.

"Now we start on the road so our goal is to get one and if we get one, go for two and go from there."

In the four regular season meetings, the Hawks won three, which at this point provides little more than the knowledge the Sharks can be beaten. This is the first postseason series between the teams.

"It's going to be a battle,," Hawks winger Dustin Byfuglien said. We're going to have our mind set to be ready right from the drop of the first puck."

One-timer: Tuesday's game averaged a 9.93 household rating for Comcast SportsNet, which translates to roughly 347,600 homes, and is surpassed in CSN history only by the 10.14 household rating for Game 3 of the series. The Hawks' last five games on CSN are the five most-watched programs in the channel's 5 1/2 year history, ahead of anything featuring the Cubs, White Sox or Bulls.